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In the late nineties/early 00s, I seriously thought about going to Japan or Hong Kong to become a music video director. One of the reasons was Aikawa Nanase. She wasn’t the most popular singer but she had this fearlessness and edge in her music and videos that I don’t see in many female artists. After being away for a while, she’s back with a song and video that harkens back to what she’s done before. Spent the last couple days, re-watching her old videos online. Man, I really missed her work.
Bonus video: LIKE A HARD RAIN～Yumemiru.. (Live)
Here are a few films that just debuted at SXSW that you can watch at home on Hulu.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/mattdentler/archives/sxsw_on_hulu/
If I had some fore-thought, I would have gone to Austin this weekend for SXSW, then flew to SF for SFIAAFF, then drove up to Seattle to visit my sister, then drive back to SF to fly home. But I didn’t, so I’m hoping to spend some time learning Final Cut Pro on my new MacBook Pro (15”) and writing. Adding new skill sets is a good idea right now.
I also bought a new sketchbook to work out new ideas.
The economy isn’t getting better soon and a few blogs I visit tell of cuts and layoffs almost every day. For example, http://www.mediabistro.com/mediajobsdaily/. I’m getting calls for jobs as insurance salesmen and even got a email about a receptionist position. wtf?
Warning: This post has expanded from my original intentions in a good way.
I liked comic strips as a kid, reading many on a Sunday morning. I still get the Sunday paper but I don’t read the comics anymore. Papers have been losing comic readers for years, partially to the Internet and partially to the lack of risk the syndicates are taking when considering the strips that are printed. I was at UM when Frank Cho was creating some really memorable strips in the campus paper, which led to Liberty Meadows in syndication, but after facing continuing censorship, he stopped working for the papers. Since the Internet has been in existence, several creators have used it to get their material to the masses and web comics have proliferated. PvP is one such strip that that I’ve perused in the past and last week had an interesting satirical take on the subject.
And now there’s Stripgenerator(Source: LifeHacker),a tool to help you can create your own strip more easily. It’s not easy to create strips on a daily basis and there is a limitation based on the available assets, but it’s a neat little application. May be posting some of my handiwork soon.
Comics as a medium to tell stories has been looked down upon for a long time but Scott McCloud has always been an advocate of the power of its storytelling abilities. A video of his speech at TED many years ago was posted recently and breaks down comics to its fundamental aspects. Read his book for a more comprehensive and academic look at storytelling through comics.
So one of my sisters is traveling around the world for many months. My brother-in-law went to visit her in Japan and China and brought me back a gift. I’m not big into vinyl figures but it’s pretty cool and has some neat accessories.
Bonus video: It snowed this weekend and my sister took her dog out to play.
Starting to follow the production of the NBC pilot Day One. Based on the shows that NBC has come out with in the past few seasons, I’m not too hopeful about this show’s prospects. But the thing that has me intrigued is the need for a Japanese teen in the casting call.
[JOHNNY NOZAWA] MALE, 19, Johnny’s a handsome Japanese bad boy “with a talent for surviving midnight skates across thin ice.” An illegal street car racer who’s made over $50,000 in the past two months, Johnny has been hanging around with Hunter Christianson, who gives him some good advice about depositing his money. Frantic when Hunter is held hostage by the bank robber, Johnny is further shocked when the mall is struck by some kind of meteor, and Hunter is in danger of being thrown into the giant crater at its center. Though he’s not being straight with Hunter about his background, it’s clear that he has genuine feelings for her.
A male Asian character involved with a Caucasian female on network television. No way. But I wouldn’t be surprised that if it gets picked up, the character will become Hispanic.
So I came in second in the Oscar pool that a friend of mine set up last week. I picked Jai Ho to win best song but I’m not sure if it was the right song for the end of the film now that I’ve seen this vid:
